As time goes on there becomes less and less original ideas to choose from.  Logically it makes sense as there are a finite amount of good ideas and more and more of them are being taken.  That is when superheroes come in to save the day, literally.  Superhero movies are a very common high grossing genre and it is not by accident.

Out of the top five grossing movies in 2013, two of them are superhero movies with Iron Man 3 planted firmly at the top of the list with over 400 million in profits and Man of Steel still flying high at almost 300 million in third place.  These are astonishing figures any by any means and the superhero’s success has not been limited to this year.  In regards to top grossing films of all time, four out of the top 20 are superhero movies.  With Marvel’s The Avengers at third, Iron Man 3 at fifth, and the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight Rises falling below them, these superhero movies are cleaning up in the movie industry.

With profits being as high as they are it raises the critical question of, how? How can these movies be so dominant, and for the most part foolproof, over other movie genres? The answer is simply because they are relatable.  No matter what race, religion, or gender a person is everybody knows who Superman is and can be inspired by his tale.  Superhero movies are able to transcend racial boundaries as a result of the iconic image they have adapted.  More people would probably recognize Iron Man more easily than Martin Luther King Jr.

Another plus side to using superhero movies is that they are among the most recyclable of movie plots, yet they still work.  There were a total of 7 Batman movies preceding Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises and it was still able to earn over one billion dollars.

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Also with technology and the special effects it creates are becoming a huge added bonus to movies and superhero movies are able to incorporate these expertly to entice viewers.  What the Batman movies lack in superhero raw ability they fully make up for in visual effect superiority with intense action scenes and car chases.  While these movies are recyclable the viewers still want something new and the constant addition of visual effects keeps them satisfied. The only thing that separates Batman Begins from The Dark Knight rises is almost a decade of improved technology, but what a difference it makes.

The recent influx of superhero movies has some critics saying that it has been overkill and the movie industry should slow down with them, but why? There is no good reason to stop producing the cash cows of the movie industry; they are still making money so obviously the public is not sick of them yet.  Based off of their recent explosion and success it is safe to assume that superhero movies are going to be around for a while.